When you are working towards a goal being good means sticking to the plans and keeping your nose to the grindstone.
Why does indulging always feel like you’re being bad? Is it old guilt trips from our parents, or is it our own feelings? It could be a combination of both. It could also be good old fashion American puritanical ideals. That being idea that when we have rich foods or a treat we are being bad.
It’s true we shouldn’t just reward ourselves with calorie laden goodies. If we deny ourselves too much we can end up binging as well. So what is the happy medium? How can we keep up with our goals and reach them, without getting there and then eating up a storm after losing weight.
Keeping active has been the key for me, not that I am obsessed with working out to just burn calories. I have been doing my belly dancing which is fun and makes me feel good. As a great out side benefit I have been losing weight.
We are being good when we make wise food choices and keep active. Once we try to put a lot of labels on it, then it can take away our sprite to keep trying.
Also we need to keep telling our friends when they are doing good and they are ‘being good’ with their goals. If we need to hear it, then so do they. It all helps out.
Have I been good? I have, with keeping active, not gaining any weight back and not binging on treats. Feeling better about my health has been its own reward. Everything else is…..well the icing on the cake. That I’m not eating.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Week 8
Yes, I am right in the middle of my 12 week program. I am counting down to the last week which will be week 1.
In the last few weeks things have been working well. I have been losing an average of two pounds per week. Never being one to whine endlessly, I started this before I told anyone about it.
Being strict with what I eat has not been easy. Some days and this week, I have had to indulge in a few carbs. If I don’t it will bother me too much and I will over indulge later. I made sure to keep the portions low, and not keep eating. Also making sure to keep up with supplements and drinking plenty of water.
The exercise has been coming along well. Already I am used to practicing for upcoming dances. I still have a performance to get ready for, and last week I was able to substitute for my belly dancing teacher when she needed the night off. That was change and gave me a new reason to keep going.
This week the reason to keep going is the countdown to my dance. It will again be at the Coffee Haven in Long Beach on the 27th of this month. For that evening I will be in a different costume that usual. At Cairo Caravan I picked up some new outfits, none of which I have used in an act yet, though I have used some of them in everyday life. It helps to have something different to wear that no one else has. Another challenge for this act will be dancing in heels something I have never done.
With all this it may seem easy to get going and some days it is. Others I really have to push myself to practice before work. In that I am really lucky, I have a job that starts late and I have time to dance and exercise before going into my office.
Keeping up with my routine is not just important for me, but others around me. If I am off my game the office, and the house all suffer. While that is a good thing, it can also seem like I can’t ever just be lazy and just say, “never mind”. It does make it demanding for me. I can honestly say, sometimes I feel like I am drowning in my own schedule, it passes. Once I get through the day and look back at all I was able to get done I feel so much better.
Karl Lagerfeild works so hard “To show the others how worthless they are.”
Working hard has its own rewards; I do not want to show others they are worthless, I just feel it’s better to lead by example. When I’m on my game others around me may be encouraged to do the same.
In the last few weeks things have been working well. I have been losing an average of two pounds per week. Never being one to whine endlessly, I started this before I told anyone about it.
Being strict with what I eat has not been easy. Some days and this week, I have had to indulge in a few carbs. If I don’t it will bother me too much and I will over indulge later. I made sure to keep the portions low, and not keep eating. Also making sure to keep up with supplements and drinking plenty of water.
The exercise has been coming along well. Already I am used to practicing for upcoming dances. I still have a performance to get ready for, and last week I was able to substitute for my belly dancing teacher when she needed the night off. That was change and gave me a new reason to keep going.
This week the reason to keep going is the countdown to my dance. It will again be at the Coffee Haven in Long Beach on the 27th of this month. For that evening I will be in a different costume that usual. At Cairo Caravan I picked up some new outfits, none of which I have used in an act yet, though I have used some of them in everyday life. It helps to have something different to wear that no one else has. Another challenge for this act will be dancing in heels something I have never done.
With all this it may seem easy to get going and some days it is. Others I really have to push myself to practice before work. In that I am really lucky, I have a job that starts late and I have time to dance and exercise before going into my office.
Keeping up with my routine is not just important for me, but others around me. If I am off my game the office, and the house all suffer. While that is a good thing, it can also seem like I can’t ever just be lazy and just say, “never mind”. It does make it demanding for me. I can honestly say, sometimes I feel like I am drowning in my own schedule, it passes. Once I get through the day and look back at all I was able to get done I feel so much better.
Karl Lagerfeild works so hard “To show the others how worthless they are.”
Working hard has its own rewards; I do not want to show others they are worthless, I just feel it’s better to lead by example. When I’m on my game others around me may be encouraged to do the same.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Keeping up
All my life I have been smaller. I was the smallest one in Kindergarten. It has never bothered me. Sure I need help getting things down off the top shelf at the super market. I have been known to climb up the shelves on occasions.
When it came to running for PE classes, I was a good sprinter, but it was harder for me to keep up with the others. They had longer strides and I never really did well in long distance running. I did run after school to keep my weight down. My mother and sister were always on me about my weight.
My sister is much taller and had a long stride. She would have been great in track and field. It was hard for me to keep up with her when we walked home from school since my legs just didn’t reach that far in one step. People that are taller soon realize, around me smaller steps. Otherwise I’m puffing to keep up with them and it takes me two steps to their one.
With my new exercise routine it’s not easy to keep up all the time. Today I will be teaching a belly dance class. I will be subbing for my teacher and that has helped me to keep going this week, I have been really tired. Yes, I take vitamins and then work out. The two together makes all the difference.
I am doing all this for myself and for my overall health. When I was working hard to please my family it worked for a while. The motivation was really fear, the fear of being called fat and looked down by them. It was too negative to keep up. In the end they were never pleased and I gave up. I would never hear my mother say I looked pretty or slim. She would always say I needed to lose more weight, even at a size 4 she said that.
At my age I have more realistic goals. I will never again be a size 4 and I only got there by hardly eating and it wasn’t healthy. If I can lose enough to be healthy I will be happy. I have old clothes I can almost get back into. That would be great. Keeping up with a healthy life style won’t always be easy, but it will be worth it in the end.
When it came to running for PE classes, I was a good sprinter, but it was harder for me to keep up with the others. They had longer strides and I never really did well in long distance running. I did run after school to keep my weight down. My mother and sister were always on me about my weight.
My sister is much taller and had a long stride. She would have been great in track and field. It was hard for me to keep up with her when we walked home from school since my legs just didn’t reach that far in one step. People that are taller soon realize, around me smaller steps. Otherwise I’m puffing to keep up with them and it takes me two steps to their one.
With my new exercise routine it’s not easy to keep up all the time. Today I will be teaching a belly dance class. I will be subbing for my teacher and that has helped me to keep going this week, I have been really tired. Yes, I take vitamins and then work out. The two together makes all the difference.
I am doing all this for myself and for my overall health. When I was working hard to please my family it worked for a while. The motivation was really fear, the fear of being called fat and looked down by them. It was too negative to keep up. In the end they were never pleased and I gave up. I would never hear my mother say I looked pretty or slim. She would always say I needed to lose more weight, even at a size 4 she said that.
At my age I have more realistic goals. I will never again be a size 4 and I only got there by hardly eating and it wasn’t healthy. If I can lose enough to be healthy I will be happy. I have old clothes I can almost get back into. That would be great. Keeping up with a healthy life style won’t always be easy, but it will be worth it in the end.
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Planning
In the next few weeks I am planning on having another performance at Coffee Haven in Long Beach. As it turned out I was able to have a private session with my teacher and friend. She gave me tons of help to smooth out things in my routine.
I was so grateful to have some help. Not one to shy away from help in my dancing. Some never want instruction in their exercise routines and want to do it all themselves. I have found they are also people that never make any progress. I have a friend, I hadn’t talked to her in a year and we had the same conversation as the last year. I like getting correction in my Pilates class, just as I had enjoyed instruction in my ballet classes. She chafed at that kind of direct attention, she was still complaining about not losing weight while I had lost some weight and was feeling better.
I know, she could not see the connection of getting instruction and correction and progress. If she did accept help, maybe she would be doing her exercise correctly and getting the benefit from it. Needless to say, I have not brought up the subject to her since then.
In the last two weeks I have lost 6 pounds, yes I am very proud of that. Most of it had to do with getting ready for my performance last Sunday. I was going a lot of drum solo work, and it really helped to charge up my work out.
In planning for my next dances, I can see the format will not be as rigorous. Still trying to keep my goal in mind, I am still working out with the drum solo CD. The other part is diet. During the past few months I have changed a lot in that department, and just added the faster pace of the dance work out has made a big difference.
Why all this talk of dancing on my Surf blog? I have not made much progress in my surfing since I have been out of shape and very heavy in the middle. The more I loose on dry land the better I will be in the water. It will help me to float better and be more flexible to pop up on my board.
I had a long road to go on when I first started surfing again. Really I should have done all this work first then gotten back on the board. It was a bit premature. After getting out there and being winded I realized just how much work I was going to have to do. Surfing and ballet are things I really love. In order to get back to these activities I need to be much slimmer, which is why I spend all this effort to lose weight.
Sure it may seem like a long detour, but I still know what goal I am working towards. I am still planning on getting back on my board. It’s not all planning, it’s doing.
I was so grateful to have some help. Not one to shy away from help in my dancing. Some never want instruction in their exercise routines and want to do it all themselves. I have found they are also people that never make any progress. I have a friend, I hadn’t talked to her in a year and we had the same conversation as the last year. I like getting correction in my Pilates class, just as I had enjoyed instruction in my ballet classes. She chafed at that kind of direct attention, she was still complaining about not losing weight while I had lost some weight and was feeling better.
I know, she could not see the connection of getting instruction and correction and progress. If she did accept help, maybe she would be doing her exercise correctly and getting the benefit from it. Needless to say, I have not brought up the subject to her since then.
In the last two weeks I have lost 6 pounds, yes I am very proud of that. Most of it had to do with getting ready for my performance last Sunday. I was going a lot of drum solo work, and it really helped to charge up my work out.
In planning for my next dances, I can see the format will not be as rigorous. Still trying to keep my goal in mind, I am still working out with the drum solo CD. The other part is diet. During the past few months I have changed a lot in that department, and just added the faster pace of the dance work out has made a big difference.
Why all this talk of dancing on my Surf blog? I have not made much progress in my surfing since I have been out of shape and very heavy in the middle. The more I loose on dry land the better I will be in the water. It will help me to float better and be more flexible to pop up on my board.
I had a long road to go on when I first started surfing again. Really I should have done all this work first then gotten back on the board. It was a bit premature. After getting out there and being winded I realized just how much work I was going to have to do. Surfing and ballet are things I really love. In order to get back to these activities I need to be much slimmer, which is why I spend all this effort to lose weight.
Sure it may seem like a long detour, but I still know what goal I am working towards. I am still planning on getting back on my board. It’s not all planning, it’s doing.
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